"More Needs to be Done"

"Do right by the renters.

Advocates and Councilmembers gathered on the steps of City Hall to push for better rent laws, and ask state legislators to eliminate loopholes that allow landlords to increase rents to levels out of reach for low-income New Yorkers.
At a rally on March 22, housing activists sought better protection for tenants of the city’s 2.5 million rent-stabilized units. They called for the elimination of a loophole that lets landlords boost rent by 20 percent when tenants vacate a rent-stabilized apartment, as well as a rule that removes units from rent regulations once the rent gets high enough, allowing units to go to market-rate prices.
Though the current rent laws are set to expire in June 2019, advocates called on the state to address them sooner.
“Governor Cuomo and the legislature could today pass legislation which would close landlord loopholes,” said Judith Goldiner, Supervising Attorney of the Legal Aid Society’s Law Reform Unit. “We have lost hundreds of thousands of rent regulated units over the last 20 years, and that must stop.”
“Rent regulated housing keeps this city balanced,” said City Councilmember Carlina Rivera..."

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